Competition is a good thing, yet it’s something that we tend to look at negatively. Why? A lot of times it’s because we aren’t doing as well as we want to, so we blame our competition for our lack of success. Yes, that is a hard statement to write and understand. I used to blame competitors all the time for my shortcomings. What we should do is look at our competitors as people that can teach us what to do and what not to do. We should really get to know them, learn from them, and, yes, even HELP them.

In most areas, there are plenty of customers and cars for all of us to not just survive but to thrive. I go to conferences all the time and see lots of shops sharing best practices. They do this because they aren’t worried about the shop in the next state. BUT really, competition is competition, and we should do the same with the person down the street.

Go break bread with your competitors; it just might help you more than you think!